no gd reason. other than you are being good humored about it. "first look" is up next. right now on "first look," israeli military forces massing near the palestinian border. show of force or ground invasion ahead? a texas tragedy as a train slams into a parade float. carrying veterans and their families. and former cia director david petraeus faces the fire in the benghazi terror attacks. good morning, everyone. i'm lynn berry. and the world is holding its breath this morning as tensions in the middle east reach a boiling point after days of fierce fighting between israel and gaza militants. an attempt at a brief cease-fire was unsuccessful this morning as palestinians unleashed a fresh round of air attacks.

israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is not backing down. >> in the past 24 hours israel has made it clear that it will not tolerate rocket and missile attacks on its civilians. >> nbc's martin fletcher is live for us in tel aviv with the very latest. martin, what's the latest? >> reporter: lynn, good morning. following up on netanyahu's threat, last night they are stressing they will do anything it takes to stop the palestinians from firing rockets into israel. overnight or last night rather 30,000 reserves were given a potential order to report for duty. overnight 16,000 soldiers were told, reserve soldiers were told to report to their units. they're going to join army units amassed on the border of gaza. tank transporters and personnel carriers, thousands of troops going towards the border with gaza ready for a ground invasion. as you suggested in your introduction, lynn, is it a show

of force or is it the real thing? we don't know at this point. it's definitely partly a show of force but it could also equally well end in a ground invasion because israelis keep insisting whatever it takes they'll do in order to stop the rockets being fired from gaza. now, there was a temporary cease-fire in place this morning. israel agreed that while the egyptian prime minister was visiting gaza for about three hours it would hold its fire but on condition that the palestinians did the same. well, the palestinians didn't, so israel resumed their rockets and there was one moment earlier this morning where there was a very intense exchange, israel fired 85 rockets into gaza in a period of only 45 minutes targeting those stockpiles of weapons and long-range rockets in particular. lynn? >> martin fletcher there live in tel aviv, martin, thank you. "the new york times" reports that the defense department has given the obama administration an assessment of what this might entail. the pentagon says a u.s. military effort to seize syria's

stockpiles of chemical weapons would require upward of 75,000 troops and "the times" reports that senior american officials are concerned that hezbollah has set up camp near the chemical weapons depose. the white house declined to comment. four people were killed in texas when a freight train slammed into a parade float carrying wounded veterans. this is just terrible. it's an accident that happened at a railroad crossing in midland, texas, as the float tried to get around the safety gates and lights. the float was made with a flatbed trailer. in addition to the four deaths, there were 17 people injured. m midland's mayor reacted to the accident. >> this may be one of the most tragic events we've had in our town and it's a sad day. i shook their hands and saw them personally and met their wives. it truly was an honor to be in their presence. these guys are true american heroes.

>> that's for sure. secretary of defense leon panetta issued a statement saying he's deeply saddened. the ntsb is sending a team to midland to investigate. well, today is the day former cia director david petraeus faces lawmakers. he's due to testify behind closed doors about that deadly september 11th attack on the consulate in benghazi, but there is no doubt that he'll also be asked about his extramarital affairs. nbc's tracie potts is on capital hill for us with those details. tracie, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. they previewed his testimony and plan to ask whether that attack in libya could have been prevented. after three-hour briefings from the cia and the fbi, today both the house and senate intelligence committees will hear from former cia director david fets. >> he interviewed many of the people as i understand it that were involved so the opportunity to get his views i think is very important. >> reporter: the closed door hearing is not expected to get

into the affair that prompted petraeus to resign. the cia is now investigating whether he did anything wrong professionally. the fbi concluded it was a personal matter. >> we made the determination as we were going through the matter that there was not a threat to national security. >> reporter: petraeus testifies today on the deadly attack that killed four americans in benghazi. thursday lawmakers saw realtime video of that attack and got in a heated shouting match over whether united nations ambassador susan rice intentionally misled the public when she said it was spontaneous. >> this administration include the president himself has intentionally misinformed and lied to the american people in the aftermath of this tragedy. >> if you want to know who is responsible in this town, buy yourself a mirror. >> reporter: petraeus could shed some light on that today.

today's hearing is closed. the committees hope to have open public hearings at a later dade. lynn? >> tracie, thanks so much. now a check of the weather with bill karins. he's tracking a nice weekend for you all. >> like my vacation week without taking a vacation week. we all deserved it after what we went through. stress-free forecasts are nice every once in a while. good morning. we help you get out the door. a lot like yesterday. whatever you had on as far as the jacket, gloves and hats will work today. we won't see a change in the weather pattern across the country for at least a week, maybe through thanksgiving, so what you see is what you get and, you know, it's not too bad. it's a little chillier than what we'd probably like but will not be horrible. no snow or ice or that much rain. temperatures in the 20s and 30s throughout much of the nation with 40s along the southern half of the country. by the afternoon hours, a decent amount of sunshine you'll probably warm up 10 to 20 degrees. a couple areas of clouds. the rain we yesterday along the carolina coastline is beginning

to head off the virginia coast. really the only wet weather i have out there and even this is extremely light but you're fine in washington, d.c. but heading over the chesapeake into southern portions of maryland and delaware, you may see a few rain showers this morning. but that's it. rain-free forecast. the airports look great and driving conditions are ideal. 65 in dallas will be nice. in the 40s through the northern plains and much of florida looks good and even looking ahead to the weekend it's almost like one of the broken record forecasts, just day after day looks very much the same. i think you have a little more sunshine tomorrow in areas of the east and probably will make it feel nice. 60s dominate the map even into sunday. normally i don't give away the entire forecast but we have the thanksgiving travel forecast to come. >> bill, thanks. coming up, the justice department brings down the hammer on b pchp over the oil s. plus, 15 days after the storm, president obama returns

to survey the damage and to lend some much needed emotional support. plus, why vice president joe biden is moonlighting with amy poehler. you're watches "first look" on msnbc. [ male announcer ] where do you turn for legal matters?

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here are some stories making news this morning. bp has agreed to pay a record criminal penalty of $4.5 billion to the u.s. government in a massive settlement over the 010 oil disaster in the gulf of mexico. attorney general eric holder says much of the money will be used to help restore the gulf. president obama got a firsthand look at hurricane sandy's disaster zones on new york's staten island thursday. the president consoled grieving victims and vowed to stick with them. prosecutors in new york state are dropping drug possession charges against jon bon jovi's 19-year-old daughter after her apparent heroin overdose. under state law you cannot be charged with possession. and some former first

children gave a texas audience an inside look at life in the white house. jenna bush hager reveals about having her first kiss on the executive mansion's first rooftop while steve ford talks about his mother complaining about having to cook dinner on the night gerald was sworn in. scrambled politics. when you thought you were safe from presidential campaigning. i thought we had a break, right. well, warren buffet announced his choice for 2016 and endorsed hillary clinton although she has not said if she will run yet. senator john mccain was holding a press conference about the benghazi attack and he was actually missing a closed door briefing related to the attack. well, when asked why he missed that briefing, mccain had no answer and got angry at a question about that. >> well, why can't you -- >> because i have the right as a senator to have no comment. >> in california dr. b achera h

been declared winning defeating dan lungren. in florida alan west is still hanging on in his undecided race. ron barber who filled the seat of gabby giffords is waiting for the state to tally more than 100,000 uncounted ballots to see if he returns to the house. a tweet sent yesterday from the white house twitter account is a picture of president obama meeting with the u.s. women's gymnastics team in the oval office. pretty cool. and last night nbc's "parks and recreation" featured vice president joe biden playing himself. we have a look behind the scenes as the vice president compares his job to situation comedy. >> now, i just want you to know i got to make two major speeches, meet a couple thousand people but it will be a hell of a lot easier than this for me. so thanks a lot. >> that's your morning dish of scrambled politics. let's take a check at wall

street on this friday morning. the dow closed at 12,542 after losing 28 points yesterday. the s&p was down 2. the nasdaq fell 9. overseas markets had a better day. the nikkei shot up 194. the hang seng gained 50. wall street will be watching today's first face-to-face fiscal cliff meeting. and there is a lot at stake here. the congressional budget office predicts a first half recession next year if the economy goes over that cliff. debt commission co-chair erskine bowles tells maria bartiromo why he thinks there hasn't been a recession yet. >> the guys that are running for office worship that great god of re-election and haven't been focused, i believe, on what's right for the country. >> the average rate on a 30-year loan has dropped to 3.34%. that's the lowest since 1971. the average 15-year fixed rate hit a new low of its own.

federal officials are investigating whether fedex and ups aided and abetted illegal drug sales from online pharmacies. both companies deny any wrongdoing. mcdonald's u.s. chief is stepping down due to unusually poor fast food sales. thousands of united airlines passengers were stranded thursday thanks to the airline's third major computer glitch since june. a new survey says 86% of americans are buckling up nowadays. that's up over 2% from last year. hostess is set to announce its next step this morning after threatening to close up shop if striking workers didn't return by last night. >> luke skywalker and princess leia have earned a spot in the national toy hall of fame. and if you're up right now, these may come in handy. frito-lay is jacking up its snack with a jolt of caffeine equal to a can of coke. cracker jack'd is set to debut.

"people" magazine weighs in on its sexiest athletes. and check this out. a policeman is inside his car when they capture this picture of this car barreling towards him. details next. wants that pink castle thing. and you really don't want to pay more than you have to. only citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest price. and if it finds one, you get refunded the difference. just use your citi card and register your purchase online. have a super sparkly day! ok. [ male announcer ] now all you need is a magic carriage. citi price rewind. buy now. save later.

citi price rewind. boproductivity up, costs down, thtime to market reduced... those are good things. upstairs, they will see fantasy. not fantasy... logistics. ups came in, analyzed our supply chain, inventory systems... ups? ups. not fantasy? who would have thought? i did. we did, bob. we did. got it. some of the other news going on around america. a dash cam caught one police officer's brush with death. she comes head first barreling

into him and just returned to his car when an oncoming vehicle went into his cruiser. the officer and the 71-year-old driver in the other vehicle walked away with only minor injuries. also dramatic new video of hurricane sandy flooding. surveillance cameras were rolling when a 13-foot storm surge poured thousands of gallons of water into path train stations. 17 days after the storm they're still closed. in virginia tragedy was averted when this 4-year-old little girl leapt into action to save her mom's life. she called 911. >> my mommy is having a seizure, so i thought that i could call you guys and i am 4. i call people and i really need you to help me. >> okay. your mommy is having a what? >> seizure. >> unreal. it's little jal acha driver's

mom had a history of seizures and her parents taught her how to help at an early age. she did a great job at it. dreams of walking again finally came true for one ohio mom. the amazing feat came true when carolina hatten put on a wearable robot costing around $140,000. she became paralyzed from the waist down from a 2009 accident. it helps people balance and shift their weight. she's happy about doing that. her next wish is to hold her 4-year-old son and be a normal mom. all right. now for thursday night football. bills/dolphins. buffalo opened the scoring with a 79-yard punt return for a touchdown and the bills defense held the dolphins to under 200 yards total defense or offense rather for a 19-14 win. looking good there. in the nba, the still undefeated new york knicks made a dramatic fourth quarter comeback against the san antonio spurs for a 104-100 win. in baseball detroit's triple crown winner miguel cabrera was named league mvp and it was san francisco catcher bust ter poser who

was voted the national league's most valuable player. what do you think of this, four athletes including the patriots tom brady made "people" magazine's list of sexy men. the others were mario chalmers of the miami heat plus olympic speed skater apolo ohno and then south african sprinter and double amputee, oscar pistorius. and just an amazing soccer goal here. look at this as a swedish player made a stunning overhead bicycle kick from 30 yard as way, boom, in a match against england to open its new national stadium. that'll do. how did he celebrate? yeah. ripping his shirt off, show those abs, that'll do. bill karins will be keeping his shirt up. >> bumping himself up in the show. >> we'll put that in repeat for the rest of the show. >> taylor lautner in there

sooner or later, i'm sure. next week's forecast. this weekend, the weather looks very quiet and very nice around the country and actually that continues into next week. this is an amazingly quiet tranquil period. almost like mother nature trying to make up for herself what she did last week and the week before that. much of wednesday's travel, they consider this the busiest travel day of the year. everywhere east of the rockies looks great. few isolated storms on the border of mexico and texas. all the troublesome weather through till next week on the west coast storm after storm will be coming in. anyone traveling seattle to portland and san francisco northwards up through california may have to deal with not so ideal weather conditions. breezy along the east coast. any reason i mention that, the winds have to be light enough for those big parade floats, balloons in new york city, the macy's parade. the showers in texas will be isolated at best and still the northwest is only troublesome weather so this morning just like yesterday bundle yourself up with the gloves and the hats

in the northeast. nice afternoon and much of the country looks very tranquil. >> good news. bill, thanks so much. just ahead, thousands more people across the country are awake right now. we'll tell you why. and another breakup on the horizon for the kardashians? plus, this week we found out who "people's" sexiest man is live is. >> do you think willie geist should have made that list. >> who did the onions choose? that's after the break. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. right, whole grain, multigrain cheerios! mom, are those my jeans? [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multigrain cheerios military families face, we understand. at usaa, we know military life is different. we've been there. that's why every bit of financial advice we offer is geared specifically to current and former military members and their families. [ laughs ] dad! dad! [ applause ]

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this is cool. tonight president obama host aid screening of the new movie "lincoln" at the white house. yep, after the movie joe biden was like, whoa, i did not see that ending coming.

am i -- anyone else? am i -- that's crazy, right? some more news out of washington. during his final speech on the house floor yesterday, 77-year-old congressman ron paul said the constitution has failed. which must be a bummer because he's actually one of the guys who signed it. why would you do that? >> all right, it is the end of an era at the box office. twihards everywhere will line up to see "breaking down." it is supposed to rake in over $150 million this afternoon. >> just like the james bond movie you haven't seen. >> i don't have time, bill. speaking of "twilight" the on and off again romance has been taking its toll on will ferrell.

>> we hope there is closure there soon. the cast and crew of "the big bang theory" decided to surprise their producers with a "call me maybe" flash mob. the choreographed number was done in front of a live number. >> and news that kris and bruce jenner will be getting a divorce was quickly shot down by the kardashian matriarch saying it was total rubbish. nbc's "parks and recreation" featured vice president joe biden who after going over a scene had this to say. and finally the onion. you know the onion? >> yeah. >> well, it's revealed their choice for 2012 sexiest man alive. it is none other than north korean supreme leader kim jong-un. >> has he ever smiled? >> no. >> i'm afraid to check the issue. make sure there's no familiar faces in that one. >> we worried about that too. it is confirmed, you are clear. i know you were worried about

that. i'm lynn berry. this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned. "way too early" starts right now. [ phone ringing ] for the first time since the gulf war, more than 20 years ago, air raid sirens in the commercial capital of tel aviv, israel, sending residents running for cover as the fighting escalates on both side anniversary the border. good morning, everyone. i'm brian shactman. which we had a lighter start but we're happy you're with us. we begin, of course, in the middle east with breaking news where the fighting between israelis and palestinians in gaza now on the verge of an all-out war. in response to repeated rocket attacks from hamas operatives, israel has begun mobilizing some